Word.ws English Dictionary

playing the fool

playing the fool is the present participle and gerund of play the fool.

Meaning of play the fool

Verb

play the fool (third-person singular simple present plays the fool, present participle playing the fool, simple past and past participle played the fool)

  1. (idiomatic) To behave in a foolish or comical manner.
    • Back in school again, Maxwell plays the fool again
      Teacher gets annoyed1969, Paul McCartney, “Maxwell's Silver Hammer”, in Abbey Road, performed by The Beatles
  2. (idiomatic) To pretend or feign ignorance.
    • I play the fool when we're together
      But I cry when we're apart, yeah
      I couldn't do you no better
      Don't break what's left of my broken heart, baby1980, Prince, “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?”, in Prince

Questions about playing the fool

What is playing the fool the present participle and gerund of?
Playing the fool is the present participle and gerund of play the fool.

Words near playing the fool in the dictionary

  1. playing the clitar
  2. playing the deuce with
  3. playing the devil with
  4. playing the dickens with
  5. playing the field
  6. playing the fool
  7. playing the game
  8. playing the giddy goat
  9. playing the giddy ox
  10. playing the hand one is dealt
  11. playing the man

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: playing the fool (page history and authors); play the fool (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “playing the fool.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/playing_the_fool. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.